Bus stations help facilitate massive polio vaccinations

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bogor

While hundreds of parents took their young children to a polio vaccination post in Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta, Paryati and three-year-old son Zakky were waiting for a bus on Tuesday morning.

Suddenly a local official came up to Paryati and told her to take her son to the vaccination post. Still unsure of what was going on, Paryati slowly walked to the post.

"I was a little bit shocked when the man came up and told me to bring my child here. But it's a good thing he did, because I would have missed the free vaccination," Paryati told The Jakarta Post.

The government carried out a national mandatory polio vaccination drive on Tuesday in a bid to eradicate the virus that has emerged in several provinces across the country over the past few months.

Under existing laws, parents who refuse to take their children for vaccination may face legal sanctions, including one year's imprisonment and or a fine of Rp 1 million (US$106).

In Jakarta, over 700,000 children under five were expected to participate in the country's first mass polio vaccination drive.

Meanwhile, Bogor municipality targeted to vaccinate 80,623 children, while Bogor regency targeted 457,146 children.

Vaccination posts were set up in neighborhoods and inter-city bus terminals to ensure that all of the city's under-five children were immunized. Similar posts were also established in front of fast food restaurants and in malls. Each post was manned by four or five health officials or volunteers.

"We fully support the program and that is why we deployed 12 officials to look for passengers with children and persuade them to go to the post," head of the Kampung Rambutan inter-city bus terminal Didy Sadiri said.

Six officials monitored inter-city buses and the others monitored city buses.

Ahmirul Akmal, an official from the Jakarta health agency who monitored the Kampung Rambutan post, said that he did not expect so many children would be vaccinated at the station.

"We had no idea how many children would get vaccinated here because there was no data available. But, I am thrilled that the interest is high. We even had to ask for more vaccine," he said.

By the time the post was closed at 1 p.m., 277 children under five had been immunized.

It was a different situation at the Lebak Bulus bus station in South Jakarta, where only 45 children were vaccinated.

Terminal officials repeatedly encouraged parents traveling with children under five to take them for vaccination.

"I announced it (the free vaccination) every 30 minutes through the terminal's loudspeaker, but people still didn't come. I guess it's because there were no notices about the polio vaccination post here," said Sarbini, the head of the inter-city terminal.

The Jakarta Health Agency praised the contribution made by bus stations, saying they helped prevent the polio virus from traveling.

"Bus stations are one of the biggest contributors in terms of getting children immunized. We haven't had exact numbers yet, but I'm sure the posts there were highly effective," said Zelfyno, spokesperson for the Jakarta Health Agency.

City officials said on Monday that they would carry out door- to-door search for children under five for the next week to make sure they were vaccinated.

The next round of polio vaccinations will be held on June 28.